Background
This series covers a recent TPAC trip, which concludes with a flight on BR's flagship route from Taoyuan to San Francisco. As mentioned in Part 1, BR has 3x daily service from TPE to SFO all on B77Ws: BR8 is a daytime flight arriving in SFO at 06:30, BR18 is the early red-eye arriving in SFO at 16:00, and BR28 is the late red-eye arriving in SFO at 20:00. I wanted to be home before dinner so chose BR18. The routing for this series thus concludes as:
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7BR18 - Business - Taipei → San Fransisco - Boeing B777-300ER
This report will cover the flight from Taiwan-Taoyuan to San Francisco.
Pre-Flight
As we left off last report, we were heading up the escalator to re-circulate into T2.
The escalators deposit you near Gate C5, which is close to the T of the terminal that would take you towards the lounges, food court, and main duty free area.
With less than an hour until boarding, I just walked the terminal to do some shopping.
Boarding
I went to the gate as boarding started. At the top of the stairs, there is a document check before accessing the quarantined lower gate level.
Since boarding started, I joined the back of Zone 1 and went in. I opted to just use L2 since I was seated in the rear cabin. It was a warm greeting from the crew as I entered, who scanned my boarding pass and directed me through the galley and down the aisle.
Our plane tonight will be B-16736, a 2017-built B77W in BR's 77A configuration with J39 W56 Y238. When I booked, all the window seats were taken, but 11K opened up a week before the flight so I slid over there.
My seat for tonight is 11K, which is at the rear of the mini-cabin ahead of the W cabin.
Legroom is of course excellent.
The very large/wide footwell and storage.
Pre-placed on the seat are the large firm pillow and the excellent duvet.
The advantage of 11K is that they store the extra pillows in the overhead bins above the Row 11 seats so its easy to grab an extra for sleep and stash it in the large footwell that comfortably fits 2 pillows and the duvet highlighting its size.
All of the seat functions are located on the side of the console: Reading light, headphone jack, 2x USB-A, universal AC adaptor (110V), and touch-screen IFE remote.
The seat controls.
On the aisle side, there is a literature compartment as well as an armrest that can be lowered or raised. When raised, it can shield you from the aisle when sleeping.
The literature contents: safety card, air sickness bag, and Sky Shop catalog.
Pre-placed on the side table were menus, poem, and a Valrhona chocolate.
Our poem tonight.
Immediately after settling in, the FA working my aisle came by to introduce herself and asked what I would like for pre-departure drink. The options were sparkling wine, water, or juice. I opted again for the orange/guava juice, which was delivered along with an oshibori.
Let's take a look at the menus for this flight. For dinner, you can either choose the Celebrity Chef's Banquet or the Royal Laurel Dining. Both are fixed menus, though the latter does offer the selection of 2 mains.
Of course, there is also the option to pre-order additional mains online starting 21 days before the flight. For our flight, we will have the choice of 8 additional options beyond what is included in the menu.
For the second meal, we have a breakfast service that has the selection of 3 set menus (Chinese Style, Western Style, or Royal Laurel Special). There are no pre-order options for this meal.
The drinks menu for our flight. As mentioned in Part 1, SFO is currently served 2015 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame and the rest of the options are of excellent quality/quantity.
The purser came through distributing the Giorgio Armani amenity kits. From TPE, they are a hard case design in a light tan color with the expected contents and Malin+Goetz products.
The Jason Wu designed pajamas are then offered.
As we wait to push back, the safety video plays and the FAs come down to take the meal orders. She confirmed both of my pre-ordered meals and took my drink orders.
We push back at 19:50 offering a look at our twin.
The Hello Kitty route is currently TPE-ORD.
We took off at 20:08 on Runway 05R.
Views of Taipei as we circle around the city to start our trek east.
Taipei 101 is visible as we cross over the mouth of the Tamsui River.
Plenty of fishing off of Keelung as we start our long journey across the Pacific.
Our route out of TPE.
Service started with distribution of water bottles.
The large study tray table, but can only be used when fully opened, which limits your aisle access.
The linens were laid for dinner.
The drink of choice.
Our amuse bouche tonight is Saffron Flavored Mashed Potato with Caviar in Mini Tartlet and Egg Crepe Roll with Smoked Duck and Apricot Compote.
The trolley comes down the aisle to set the table.
The table is set and drinks are topped off.
The hors d'oeuvre: Ginger and Scallion Abalone, Mullet Roe, Vegetables, and Black Garlic.
The purser comes down the aisle offering warm breads from a basket.
The soup course: Pumpkin Cream Soup with Scallops and Seafood Croutons.
The salad course: Garden Vegetable Salad. A choice of dressing is also offered: Herb Vinaigrette or Honey Mustard Mayonnaise. I opted for the latter.
Finally the moment of truth, my pre-ordered main is brought out: Kanpai Classic Japanese A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Deluxe Steak and Chicken Kamameshi. I will switch to the 2019 Château Marquis de Terme to accompany the main.
A good portion size of the Miyazaki Wagyu A5 and the cook exceeded my expectations for on an airplane.
After the table is cleared, the trolley comes down the aisle offering a selection of fruit, cheeses, and desserts.
I will settle for some fruit, apricot tart, and a cup of Pu'er tea after the heavy dinner.
The service concludes with another oshibori.
The FAs then perform turn down service by placing a seat topper. It is thin, but a soft cotton surface is more comfortable to sleep on.
The lights slowly turn off as the cabin prepares for sleep.
The bed in flat mode, a very comfortable seat for sleeping due to its width and large footwell.
I slept for a solid 5 hours waking up as we were crossing under Alaska.
We had some very strong tail winds and had a ground speed of 650-700 mph throughout most of the journey across the Pacific.
Heading up to the galley, there is a small snack station setup near L2. I grabbed some Taiwanese snacks and bottles of water are readily available to stay hydrated.
This B77W has the newer IFE system. The content is sparse, which remains BR's weakness. There is also very little content refresh between my trips in June and September. The moving map is good, which is all that really matters.
BR has Panasonic Wi-Fi and the pricing is steep. Since this was a redeye, I opted to just use the complimentary data for business class passengers along with the 30-minutes complimentary package.
Although entertainment on BR is a weakness, their lavatory cleanliness is a strength. They are maintained spotless throughout the flight and contain a number of amenities (tooth brushes, mouth wash, and ear plugs) along with Ideology products. The forward lavatories have fold down benches, but the mid lavatory only has a flip down counter for placing your clothes when changing.
About 2h before arrival, the second meal service started. Linens were laid and oshibori were distributed.
The espressos on BR are very good.
I ordered the Royal Laurel Special, which is delivered on a single tray.
It comes with 2 cold side dishes of "traditional delicatessens."
The main is Double Boiled Beef Brisket and Tendon Noodle Soup.
I like how their hashioki is an infinity symbol to match their other branding.
After the tray is removed, the fruit plate is brought out along with a cup of Oolong tea and an oshibori.
More drinks are offered after the meal, but I will just stick with another tea.
Blue skies over the Pacific as we approach the California coast.
As the cabin is prepared for landing, the purser comes through and offers candies from a tray as she thanks each passenger. I ask for a water, and she promptly brings out another bottle.
Our first sight of land as we start our trek down the coast towards San Francisco.
The marine layer breaks as we fly over the city.
Aerial of SFO as we cross the bay.
Home sweet home.
Reaching South Bay, we make our u-turn over the Salt Ponds.
A look up East Bay towards Oakland.
Crossing the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge.
The only advantage of being on the port side of the plane is the views of downtown on clear days.
As we touched down at 15:57 on Runway 28R, a very unexpected sighting caught my eye over by the hangars…
The destination is confirmed.
Crossing the UA operations at Concourses E and F.
The DL B752 in the 42 Mariana Riviera special livery. The fact that this plane was originally delivered to TWA hints at its age…
Reaching Concourse A, a good mix of diversity as always.
A rare chance for F9 to rub elbows with the elites.
Rounding the corner, we have a ZG B788.
TP A339neo and VS B789 also in town.
We take our slot in gate A10.
A last look at the ZG B788 as we come to a stop at our gate at 16:06.
We will head the direction of immigration and BR is nice enough to add a sign denoting our baggage claim.
From A10, it is a long walk back to the terminal.
With all of the heavies we saw at gates, the line for visitors looks to be painful queuing all the way outside of the immigration hall. Global Entry will be empty and I will be through to the baggage claim instantly.
Arriving so quickly has the disadvantage that it will be a long wait for bags and mine would not have priorities respected so the time would add up.
We will close out this report with a last look at our plane on stand as I walk over to the parking garage.
I will conclude this series here. Thanks for stopping by!
Flight Details
EVA AIR, BR18
Equipment: Boeing B777-300ER [B-16736, delivered March 2017]
Departure: 19:40 (ATD: 20:08)
Arrival: 16:00 (ATA: 15:57)
Flight time: 10:49
It's kinda the same as mu business class😜
Hi, NGO85.
Thank you for this F-R!
BR soft product delivering as per usual, then? I love when I open a menu and find myself impressed by not just the quality of the ingredients on offer, but also the creativity of how they're cooked. This is even more pronounced if I can't immediately decide which one I'd prefer. New entrant JX for what makes the Taiwan Trio certainly has their work cut out for them!
The seat has certainly aged, but did you see much wear and tear? It's a pity passengers won't see a new seat until 2026 when they're scheduled to take their A350-1000. Until then, I suppose they'll be resting on their... laurels 😉
Just looking at it and reading its name I can almost feel the warmth. I love me Asian noodle soups, especially on rainy days... of which of course Englandland brings plenty
For absolutely NO REASON at all, I'm thinking about making a bitter orange tart next weekend. I thought he'd be too cheap to pay for SFO ground fees and would opt for Oakland instead 🤭
Thanks again for your Flight-Report!
Yup, still carrying them until those A35Ks arrive and they can refresh their hard products to match JX. They also need to figure out how to handle the situation in T2. I imagine once T3 opens, some additional space will open up for them to expand/replace the current lounges since they are too small to handle the current passenger volume.
Exactly, usually you are left picking the least unappetizing option... A fair criticism of BR is that the catering options are limited since it is a fixed course menu and you are locked in based on your choice of main. I imagine there is a large portion of people that would not voluntarily pick abalone, mullet roe, and black garlic as a starter. Perhaps some a la carte approach could be taken where you can pick starters/soups off the different menus, but that might not be feasible with galley space.
Having flow 6 of their B77W frames the past couple of months there are only faint signs of scuffs, they really maintain their cabins well and doesn't feel like they are going to just run it into the ground until replacement. They have even swapped out the carpet on some older B77W frames (see PVG-TPE report). It's a stark contrast to some other carriers that have new seats covered in scratches and stains (Polaris cabins are notorious for this). Lavatories and carpets are always a litmus test and they are some of the cleanest I've seen.
Thanks for the comments!
[Edited by KévinDC on 19/10/2024 18:27:56]